Your
Etymological Queries Answered

From
Christian Schneider:

I like English words with an
archaic ring, although it is not my mother language - and up to now I could
fancy myself somewhat clever for instinctively knowing the meaning of most
of them. But when I tried to guess this one, my idea was actually so
far off that I got curious about its origins. Just why would an
"event or person foreshadowing coming events" be called harbinger?
I can't make out any obvious connections to Latin or some other
Indo-Germanic
language, but after all, that's why YOU are out there, right?

Well, we like to think so.
Sometimes. Your name suggests that German might be your mother tongue,
and if that is true you may be surprised to find that English harbinger
comes ultimately from Old High German! Yes, the word dates back to the
12th century in English, when it was herberger. Does that look
any more familiar? It came to English from Old French herbergere
"one who provides shelter or lodgings", which was formed from Old
French herberge "lodging, quarters (for an army)". The
French seem to have gotten it from Old High German (and Old Low German) heriberga
"shelter for an army", formed from heri "host,
army" and berga "protection, shelter". Berga is
cognate with English berg/burg (as in Edinburgh).

So how did herberger "one who
provides lodging" (the original English meaning) become harbinger
with the meaning "one that announces or foretells the approach of
something or someone"? The word mutated to herbenger,
apparently after the pattern of messenger, passenger, etc.
The meaning, on the other hand, shifted over time from "one who provides
lodging" (12th c.) to "one sent before to purvey lodgings for an
army" (14th c.) and then "one that goes before and announces the
approach of someone" (16th century). It is the latter sense that
came to be used figuratively and gave harbinger its meaning of today.

From
Vickie Sayer:

My husband argues that tea
towel must be somehow related to the tea drink, whereas a friend and I
theorize that it is more likely related to the evening meal [known as] tea.

Well, first, in the U.S. we usually say dish
towel, and that gives us a hint as to where tea towel comes
from. It first appears in the written record in 1863. After that
we also find tea cloth (first in 1888). Apparently the tea towel
or tea cloth was the cloth that was placed on the tea tray or tea table
underneath the dishes used for serving and drinking tea. Then it came to
refer to the cloth used to wash up and/or dry the tea things. Today it
is a kitchen towel used for wiping counters or drying dishes. It does
not appear that the tea towel ever referred specifically to the evening
meal known as "tea" in Commonwealth countries.

From
Darla Havens:

I work in a school and would
like to know the origin of the phrase holy mackerel. It was
requested by one of our students and we didn't have a clue!

Holy mackerel, which dates in writing
from 1899, is thought by H.L. Mencken to be a minced oath formed from Holy Mary,
However, Eric Partridge, borrowing from Robert Claiborne, says that holy
mackerel is euphemistic for holy Michael, perhaps perpetuated as a
jab against "mackerel snappers", Catholics in the U.S. who ate fish
on Fridays. Partridge characterizes the phrase as "a mild
oath". Whoever is correct about its derivation, there is little
doubt that the phrase originated in the U.S.

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From Tracey McTague:

I searched your site for doctor
and found it, thanks. What I am really looking for is the origin
of the nickname Doc for a doctor. When was this first
used? The nickname is to be used in a historical fiction work
placed in the 17th century, so I am looking for references earlier than
Bugs Bunny and Star Trek.

Believe
us, if you ask for the earliest reference, you're going to get it, Bugs
Bunny and Star Trek not withstanding (of course, Dr. McCoy in Star
Trek was "Bones").

The
earliest reference to the shortened form of doctor dates from 1850,
in Three Years After by E.Z.C. Judson: "‘Where's the Doc?’
asked the old lady." This casual remark pressumes familiarity
with the term, suggesting that it dates from
several years before. And no, the infamous Doc
Holliday wasn't born until 1851, and he didn't become a doctor until
quite a few years later, so his nickname doesn't constitute an earlier
occurrence of the word.

From Nikki Ruggiero:

What is the
origin of the word frog "soft part of a horse's foot"?

This one interested
us hippophiles (speaking of hippophile, did you know that the
name Philip is etymologically identical: "lover of horses",
from philein "love" + hippos "horse"?). Melanie's been cleaning her
horse's hooves for years and knew the names of the parts but hadn't given
them much thought etymologically. Why on earth would a part of a
horse's foot be called a frog, indeed? Well, most sources
were not very helpful except that they suggested the word derives from the
Italian or French word for the same anatomical part, forchetta and fourchette,
respectively. Well, what do those words mean, etymologically?
They mean "little fork", suggesting that the frog was
seen to resemble a fork in shape. Look at the diagram above, and
note part 7: that is the frog. We can certainly see the fork
shape. Remember that early forks had only two tines. This
makes frog (in this sense only) cognate with English fork! It
dates from the early 17th century in English. Frog may
also simply be a version of fork that underwent methathesis (the r
and the o changed places) rather than being a derivative of the French or Italian
word.